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Crowds of people are laughing at science (but in a good way)

Science-inflected comedy is everywhere – and if the performances at this year's Edinburgh Fringe are anything to go by, it's doing vital work

Tom Bailey

By Lydia Nicholas

Science and showmanship are old friends. Joseph Wright of Derby’s 1768 painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump depicts a scene that played to huge paying audiences and, barring animal cruelty concerns, would probably earn millions of views online today. As the cockatoo faints in its airless chamber the audience is rapt, wondering if the wizardly natural philosopher will relent and allow his bird to breathe again. This was not an experiment for discovery’s sake, but for entertainment, demonstrating both the workings of a vacuum and the growing power of …